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They said they were not there to bother anybody and would be respectful to local residents.

The council has confirmed the group is on private land.

Travellers at Darklake View

A spokesperson for Plymouth City Council said: “We can advise the land owner on what to do and we have informed the police.”

Councillor Dave Downie, cabinet member for safe and stronger communities, said that the council is “currently discussing a long-term plan to reduce the amount of unauthorised encampments by providing appropriate sites for the GRT (Gypsy, Romany, and Travelling) community to use.”

Due to the travellers being on private land, the council can only offer the land-owner legal advice.

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Plymouth City Council has a guide on what happens and what they as a council do when dealing with unauthorised encampments.

What happens when an unauthorised encampment is reported to the council?

As soon as the council receives reports of an encampment, it checks if the land in question is council owned. If it is not, the council informs the landowner and then offers them legal advice. If it is on council owned land, the council informs its community connections team.

Community connections is a multi-disciplinary team, working across the city, with and in communities, to support and empower citizens to make sustainable change in their lives.

Then what?

The Community Connections team visit the unauthorised site as soon as possible to make initial welfare checks.

This is to ensure that needs of the people on the camp are met and that everyone living on the encampment is safe and well.

Sometimes there are pregnancies or ill health that Community Connections officers can help with. The council is also able to discuss plans or raise any concerns regarding their situation or behaviours.

Officials check the site and order bins and toilets to minimise damage to the area. The council also establishes a key contact within the camp and inform them that it will be putting legal procedures in place that will force them to move on.

The council sends the welfare checks to its legal team and they prepare a Notice to Quit.

What is a Notice to Quit?

A Notice to Quit is a legal document that informs the camp that they have 48 hours to vacate the area. This time can be shortened or lengthened depending on the circumstance. For example, if the welfare checks reveal no issues and the encampment is causing an issue for member of the public, the Notice to Quit could be 24 hours.

The Notice to Quit is served to the camp as soon as it is granted by the legal department.

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When the Notice to Quit has expired, the community connections team visits the site to ensure that is vacated. A street cleaning team is then dispatched to the area.

In most cases, the Notice to Quit is effective however, if site is not vacated, lawyers prepare a legal Claim for Possession. This will include statements that confirm land ownership and evidence that the unauthorised encampment has been asked to leave but has failed to do so. This gives the council the right to evict.

How long does this take?

As soon as the court has issued the claim, it sets a hearing date, usually for around a week later. This is because of court rules surrounding notice periods. For example, the council's teams must serve the camp with the Claim for Possession at least two working days before the hearing.

How do you evict them?

The council's current procedure is that the eviction is carried about by County Court bailiffs. However, due to recent delays in the use of county court bailiffs (approximately four weeks rather than two weeks previously), Private High Court Enforcement Officers are sometimes used in cases that are more urgent due to a health and safety concern, or have a high level of community impact.

The community connections officers attend the evictions and a street cleaning team is called.